Flexible conductor or flexible parts of conductors



Sept. 1, 1936. SCHNABEL 2,053,112

FLEXIBLE CONDUCTOR OR FLEXIBLE PARTS OF commc'rons Filed D80. 21, 1933 Fi .1. I Fig. 2.

mmmmw IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIlI/I/. //////////A In wen for Patented Sept. 1, 1936 OFFICE FLEXIBLE CONDUCTOR OR FLEXIBLE PARTS OF CONDUCTORS Ernst Schnabel, Berlin-Lichterfeld,

. Germany Application December 21, 1933, Serial No. 103,406

lln Germany December 30, 1932 iii illaims.

The present invention relates to conductors or parts of conductors which have to be flexible or elastic.

conductors are liable to fracture.

It is also necessary for certain parts of conductors, such as the packings and the like to be both elastic and resistant to chemical action.

According to the invention this object is attained by manufacturing the articles wholly or for the main part of polyvinylic alcohol.

Conductors made of this material are quite in-. soluble in organic solvents, alcohol, mixtures thereof, oils and in acids usually contained in such liquids. They are furthermore extremely flexible and have a high mechanical resistance-an ordinary tube made of polyvinylic alcohol with a 1 m. m. wall is capable of resisting a pressure of 120 atmospheres-while furthermore they can be treated just like rubber hose, that is to say, they can be cut off and drawn over the or applied to connecting ends of tubes members. As compared with rubber the material has, however,-apart from its insolubilitythe considerable advantage that it does not age, that is to say, it does not become fragile and furthermore can be made transparent so that the streaming action can be observed.

Tubing made of polyvinylic alcohol is furthermore seamless and is perfectly smooth. on the inside so that in comparison with tubing provided with a fabric or wire lining it presents considerably less resistance to flow, while in addition there is an entire absence of the breaking away and carrying off of small pieces of fabric or soluble parts of the impregnation which is unavoidable in known tubing of the kind described.

This advantage is particularly important in connection with the supply of liquid fuels to apparatus having very fine orifices (such for example ascarburetors and injector nozzles of Diesel en'- gines) which are easily choked. Furthermore f polyvinylic alcohol is not attacked tubing made by the oils for Diesel engines, frequently containing acids, even when temperature.

Whereas these oils are at a high the known flexible conand pressed fiat,

ductors quickly become dirty because small parthe like, this is impossible with tubing made of polyvinylic alcohol because of the smooth inner surface; moreover, such tubing can be easily 5 cleaned by rinsing.-

A tube made of polyvinylic alcohol can be deformed in any way because of its elasticity, and it has a resistance against cracking which is scarcely inferior to that of rubber hose.

If, for example, in a workshop with conductors lying on the ground, such a conductor, say a pressure hose of a filling station, is trodden on it cannot reattain its correct shape if being a tube reinforced with coiled wire,

whereas tubing manufactured according to the invention returns unimpaired into its original shape in the manner of a rubber hose. For this reason tubing produced according to the invention can be simply closed in the way usual in chemical works by means of a clip.

What has hereinbefore been said with regard to tubing applies equally well to other tube parts such as packing. Thus polyvinylic alcohol is a suitable substance from which to manufacture packing sleeves and washers, which display elasticity, resistance to pressure and capacity for being deformed like packing made of rubber, but are entirely free fromageing phenomena and remain insoluble in organic solvents, alcohol, oils and the like.

Tubing and packing made of pure polyvinylic alcohol can be used wherever it does not come into contact with water or damp air. Otherwise additional means are advisable for preventing the slightly hygroscopic material from absorbing wa ter and swelling. In many cases it is sufficient to keep the swelling down in moderate limits by mixing filling substances such as asbestos fibre with the polyvinylic alcohol. Complete protection for conductors is obtained by forming. the conductors of a number of layers, the polyvinylic alcohol being for example converted at the surface into a different condition (so-called hardening) or joined with water-tight layers of different material, which, however, in the present case combine intimately with the tubing of polyvinylic alcohol and do not affect the capacity of the conductor for being handled in the manner of rubber hose.

Example I Hose and packing made of polyvinylic alcohol, to which have been added, if necessary, softening agents (glycerine, glycol, sugar, and the like) or fillings (asbestos, textile fibres, and the like), are manufactured by known processes, the product of this composition being squirted by means of known devices and being protected against atmospheric influences -by applying to it, while it is in an unfinished condition, a fabric covering, which is intimately joined to the lining, that is to say to the layer of polyvinylic alcohol.

Example II Hose can be produced by known processes, and by applying a layer of polyvinylic alcohol on .fabric or working it into the material, after which the hose is provided with a covering of simple fabric or an impregnated fabric, or is surrounded with braided yarn or metal threads or wound round with strips of metal or fabric, or hardened by known processes as in Example III.

Example V Hose made of polyvinylic alcohol as in Examples I and IV is covered with rubber or a rubber tube provided with polyvinylic alcohol by known processes such as squirting and the like, a mixture of, for example, latex and polyvinylic alcohol being injected between the layers of rubber and polyvinylic alcohol and the hose then vulcanized by known processes. The hose then forms a composite mass, all the layers binding together homogeneously and adhering closely together. v

In the drawing the invention is illustrated by some examples of the new tubing. In Fig. 1 a piece of a hose of pure polyvinylic alcohol is shown that is presumed to be made transparent in its manufacturing. Fig. 2 represents another piece of tubing being manufactured from polyvinylic alcohol, indicated by a, with fillings b of other substances and with an envelopment c of a fabric that may either be made of textile or of metallic threads. In Fig. 3 a tube or hose is shown with two layers of fabric, the one 0 being applied to the outside and the other e within the wall a. made of polyvinylic alcohol. The hose illustrated in Fig. 4 comprises an inner layer a .of polyvinylic alcohol and an outer layer d of rubber, a third layer e being interposed between the inner and the outer layer to improve the transition and the coherency between the two materials, this intermediate layer being of latex.

What I claim as'new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is:

facture of hoses and packings that are resistant to organic solvents, alcohol, oils and acids contained therein, this tubing being made of a material containing polyvinylic alcohol with fillings of particles of an unhygroscopic material.

4. A hose, resistant to organic solvents, alcohol, oils and acids, comprising two layers of different material intimately combined one with another, one layer consisting of polyvinylic alcohol and the other of a water-tight and water-resisting material. 1

5. A hose, resistant to organic solvents, alcohol, oils and acids, comprising two layers of different material intimately combined one with another, one layer consisting of polyvinylic alcohol and the other of rubber.

6. A hose, resistant to organic solvents, alcohol, oils and acids, comprising two layers of difierent material intimately combined one with another, one layer consisting of polyvinylic alcohol and the other of impregnated fabric.

7. A, hose, resistant to organic solvents, alcohol,

oils and acids, consisting of a material containing polyvinylic alcohol surrounded with a souple envelopment of a material resistant against water. 8. A hose, resistant to organic solvents, alcohol, oils and acids, consisting of a material containing polyvinylic alcohol surrounded with a spinning, said spinning consisting of threads of a material resistant against water.

9. A hose, resistant to organic solvents, alcohol, oils and acids, comprising two layers of different material intimately combined one with another, one-layer consisting of polyvinylic alcohol and the other of a water-tight material, the outer of the two layers being surrounded with a souple envelopment of a material resistant against water.

10. A hose, resistant to organic solvents, alcohol, oils and acids contained therein, comprising a layer of polyvinylic alcohol, adjacent to ita layer of latex and adjacent to the latter a layer of rubber, all the layers being bound closely together.

' ERNST SCHNABEL. 

